Electrification of a Bus for Children's Education – How Victron Energy Helps in Learning
STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. The STEAM bus is the newest educational resource in the Van district for teachers and students from pre-K through 12th grade. Van is a city located in Texas, and the Van Independent School District consists of five school campuses serving over 2,200 students – all located in East Texas, not far from Dallas.
The Beginning of STEAM
The idea of creating the STEAM bus began as a dream in the fall of 2017. The idea emerged when administrators started discussing how to create a makerspace on each Van ISD campus. A makerspace is a collaborative workspace within a school for making, learning, exploring, and sharing that uses high-tech and no-tech tools. The concept of a makerspace is more about creative problem-solving and acquiring 21st-century skills in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). For our makerspace, the team decided it was also important to include the letter "A" for Art; hence the name STEAM instead of STEM.
The problem they faced during initial discussions was where to put these makerspaces, as most campuses didn't have the extra space needed to dedicate a whole room for this purpose. The solution? An old school bus that would be gutted, retrofitted, and turned into a mobile learning lab that would travel from campus to campus.
Planning and Student Involvement
The administrative team presented this idea to the Van Middle School iTeam students to get their thoughts and suggestions. The kids said they wanted virtual reality, augmented reality, green screen capabilities, and coding. They then offered ideas on what the design and color scheme should look like. A group of students and teachers even visited the Boy Scouts of America mobile makerspace in Austin, the Keller school mobile trailer, and the Winona school mobile reading lab to get even more ideas about what they liked and what they'd want to see included.
Countless hours along with numerous challenges and opportunities for problem-solving were spent to make the STEAM bus a reality thanks to months of internal work by students, teachers, administrators, technology and maintenance departments, as well as community volunteers.
In the end, this vision came to life as a 14-meter, unique classroom on wheels that can move from campus to campus, as well as outside the district, providing a unique learning experience for students from pre-K through 12th grade. The bus is equipped to accommodate 20 students inside and has an additional outdoor learning space for another 10 students.
The STEAM Result
Here are two videos of the final result, shot from inside the STEAM bus.
Judging by the noise, the first test run was very successful!
Facts about the bus
🚍 STEAM Bus — a 12-meter refurbished school bus.
👩🏫 Design work was carried out by students, teachers, district staff, technical and maintenance personnel, and community volunteers.
⏳ It took just over a year from the start of the project to the launch of the bus.
🛠️ Six hands-on workstations.
🏫 Equipped for indoor and outdoor classes.
📶 Includes wireless internet.
🖥️ Two large-screen TVs and three large computer monitors projecting video and web content.
📺 One large 75-inch TV on the outside of the bus.
🖨️ Includes a 3D laser printer.
🔬 Lab equipment – microscopes, AR/VR equipment.
🎬 Green screen setup inside/outside the bus.
🔋 Powered by a generator and solar panels.
Van ISD STEAM Bus Staff
Victron Energy Sponsorship
Victron Energy is a proud sponsor of the STEAM bus and provided the equipment listed below to help make this fantastic educational project possible:
MultiPlus 12/3000/120-16 Inverter * 2 pcs
Battery Monitor BMV-712 Smart * 2 pcs
BatteryProtect 12/24V-100A * 2 pcs
BatteryProtect 12/24V-220A * 2 pcs
The electrical circuit is built on 12V LiFePO4 lithium iron phosphate batteries with a total capacity of 1200Ah, charged by the MultiPlus inverters' chargers with a total current of up to 240A from an alternator or external grid, as well as from solar panels using an MPPT controller.
Experience in building motorhomes allows us to implement solutions in many related areas, in this case, educating children in a special classroom bus that has everything to develop the younger generation.
Offer from Total-Energo LLC
If you want to implement a similar educational project for Ukrainian children, our company will gladly contribute! You can contact us for technical support in building auxiliary electrical systems in vehicles of any complexity to get special conditions.
